


Where the People Are

by imaginary_golux



Series: Merfolk [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/F, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22870798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Rey, Finn, and Poe meet another merperson. Rey is fascinated. So is the merwoman.Beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Rose Tico
Series: Merfolk [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/493540
Comments: 8
Kudos: 83
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2020





	Where the People Are

“Look, it’s a beach,” Poe is saying as they make their way onto the sand. “It positively _cannot_ capsize.”

“Uh-huh,” Finn says, sounding extremely dubious. “I’ve heard _that_ before.”

Rey leaves them to their bickering and wanders down to the edge of the water. The beach is part of the grounds of a royal villa, which her Auntie Lei has granted her the use of for a month or so. Being Crown Princess is _exhausting_ , and Rey is immensely grateful for the chance to spend a while _not_ being proper and courtly and elegant, in the company of people who are truly her friends and not would-be sycophants. Finn and Poe won’t care if she wears the right dress or uses the right fork; Finn is a _merman_ , after all, and didn’t know what a fork _was_ until a year ago, and Poe is one of the least finicky noblemen Rey has ever met.

Rey finds a sun-warmed rock above a little tidepool full of tiny fascinating creatures, and sprawls out on it, watching a sea star make its slow way across the bottom of the pool. Behind her, the bickering turns into the distinct sound of a kiss, and then a few moments later Finn goes into the water at a run, completely nude, and as he dives under a wave his feet shimmer and shift into an enormous purple scaled tail. Poe comes and sits down beside Rey, chuckling.

“It’s good for him to get swimming without having to worry about me drowning,” he says.

Rey laughs, and reaches down to dangle her fingers in the water. A very small fish darts away and then comes back to see if fingertips are food, and lingers in the shadow of Rey’s hand.

“How many times has he saved you from drowning now?”

“Only twice,” Poe says, stretching out beside her. “Ooh, look at the tiny anemone!”

“Only,” Rey teases, and then there’s a commotion out on the water. They both sit up to see Finn coming back towards shore _fast_ , with something pursuing him. Finn leaps out of the water and does a somersault, his tail becoming legs as he does, to land ankle-deep in the shallows with an enormous splash. A dozen yards out into the bay, someone surfaces.

A woman - well, a merwoman, Rey is guessing. She has dark hair, cropped short, and dark eyes, and a long spear in one hand.

“Look, I’m not trying to invade your territory!” Finn yells. “I was just going for a swim!”

“You’re one of those Order lampreys, I recognize the scars!” the merwoman yells back.

“I got _out_!” Finn bellows.

There’s a brief pause. Then the merwoman swims a little closer to shore and says, in a very different tone, “You’ve got _legs_.”

“Yeah, and I earned them, too,” Finn says, sitting down and heaving a deep breath. Poe swings down off the rock to stand behind his husband, putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “I really was just going for a swim.”

“Huh,” the merwoman says. She reverses the spear in her hand and stabs the tip of it into the sand so she has an anchor, and coils her tail around it. From what Rey can see through the slightly murky water, her tail is a startling shade of red, striking and lovely. “I’m _unintelligible_ ,” she says.

“Human throats can’t say that,” Finn says, grinning. “I’m _also unintelligible_ , but I go by Finn on land. D’you want a human-style name?”

“Sure,” says the merwoman, and Finn glances up at Poe and Rey.

“Any thoughts?”

The merwoman’s tail reminds Rey of nothing more than the lovely crimson roses her Auntie Lei grows. “How about Rose?”

“Rose,” the merwoman says, tasting the word carefully. “Yeah, I like that. Hullo, humans.”

“This is Poe, my husband,” Finn says proudly. “And this is Rey. She’s the princess.”

“What’s a princess?” the newly-named Rose asks Rey.

“Mostly a hassle,” Rey says, grinning. “Means I have to be polite to everybody whether I want to or not. But someday when Auntie Lei abdicates, I’ll be queen.”

“Like a pod leader,” Finn puts in. “Only humans have _really big_ pods. Thousands and thousands of people.”

Rose’s eyes go wide. “You’re going to lead _thousands_ of humans? How do you even _do_ that?”

“Still learning that,” Rey says ruefully. “What do _you_ do in your...pod?”

Rose shrugs. “I’m mostly a trader. My sister and me, we’ve got a knack for spotting interesting things, and we trade them with other pods for useful stuff. Food, or time in the good hunting grounds, things like that.”

“I used to be a scavenger,” Rey says. “It sounds very similar.” She slides down onto a rock closer to Rose, one that’s damp with foam, and ignores the way her pants get soaked. “Is the best stuff always under a really _big_ rock?”

“Oh shells, yes!” Rose says, and drifts a little closer to Rey, stabbing her spear into the sand again only about a yard away. “And there’s usually an eel or something lurking right where you don’t think anything could hide.”

“Like scorpions and snakes,” Rey agrees, nodding. “Eels bite, right?”

Rose lifts one hand and shows Rey a _nasty_ scar along the inside of her forearm, where dozens of needle-sharp teeth carved their mark. Rey winces in sympathy and rolls up her left pants leg to show the mark on her calf where a viper got her when she was thirteen. She’d survived, barely, but the scar is deep and ugly.

“ _Nasty_ ,” Rose says admiringly, and unwinds her tail enough that she can reach out, fingers pausing just above Rey’s leg. She has impressive claws, just as Finn does in his water form. “May I?”

“Sure,” Rey says, and Rose presses gentle fingers to the scar, keeping her claws well out of the way. Rey reaches down and brushes her own fingers over the eel-bite scar on Rose’s arm.

“Did you eat the thing that bit you?” Rose asks curiously, stroking her fingers over the scar.

“No,” Rey says. “They’re poisonous. Did you - did you eat the eel?”

“‘Course,” Rose says. “Good eating on eels.” She glances over at Poe and Finn, and her eyebrows go up. “What are they doing?”

Rey looks over and sighs. “Kissing,” she says. “ _Again_.”

“ _Why_?” Rose asks.

“It’s -” Rey pauses, and looks at Rose’s mouth. Rose obligingly grins, and displays _very_ sharp teeth. “I guess it’s a human thing, between lovers. Merfolk don’t kiss, do they?”

“Nope,” Rose says. “It looks sort of uncomfortable. And someone would end up getting bitten.” She cocks her head, studying Poe and Finn curiously. “Do they do that a lot?”

“ _So much_ ,” Rey says. “They’re my best friends and I love them, but oh my _gods_ they’re always all over each other!” Rose giggles. “You’d think they’d be less ridiculous after being handfasted for a _year_ , but no. It seems like every time I turn around, they’re kissing again!”

Rose giggles harder. “You could come and talk to me instead,” she suggests. “I’ve never talked to a human before.”

“Will you get in trouble?” Rey asks, remembering Finn’s stories about how he and Poe met.

“Not as long as I bring back enough interesting stuff,” Rose says. “I can spare a little while, here and there.”

“What sort of things count as ‘interesting’ to merfolk?” Rey asks.

“Anything new,” Rose says. Rey hums, and pulls a hairpin out of her bun. It’s worked silver, and she has dozens like it.

“Would this count?” she asks.

Rose takes the hairpin and turns it over a couple of times, thoughtfully. “Yeah, this is really neat,” she says. “Worth...probably a day in the _good_ hunting grounds.”

“Then it’s yours,” Rey says. “For coming and talking to me, so I don’t have to watch Poe and Finn canoodle all afternoon.”

Rose giggles and tucks the pin under the wrappings on her spear, and settles herself more comfortably. “Well, if it’s to help you out,” she says, grinning. “Tell me about being a pod leader for humans.”

“If you’ll tell me about what it’s like under the sea,” Rey counters.

“Deal,” Rose says, and, “Deal,” Rey agrees, and their matching grins are equally sharp, for all Rey’s blunt and human teeth.

**Author's Note:**

> For the FFC prompt "Merpeople AU."


End file.
